Verizon iPhone 4 owners report fewer dropped calls than AT&T

Owners of Apple's iPhone 4 on the AT&T network are more than twice as likely to report dropped calls than Verizon customers, a new survey has found.

ChangeWave on Tuesday released the results of its latest survey, comparing AT&T iPhone 4 owners and Verizon iPhone 4 owners. The 4,068 respondents showed that 4.8 percent of AT&T iPhone 4 owners experienced a dropped call on their handset over the past 90 days, compared with 1.8 percent of Verizon subscribers.

Those results are similar to an industry-wide, non-iPhone-specific poll conducted separately by ChangeWave. In that poll, 4.6 percent of AT&T subscribers reported dropped calls, compared with 1.4 percent of Verizon customers.

Also surveyed were prospective future iPhone 4 buyers, most of which indicated they are likely to buy the handset on Verizon's network While 46 percent of respondents said they are likely to choose Verizon, 27 percent said they would sign with AT&T. A significant number of those polled -- 27 percent -- said they are unsure or did not choose AT&T or Verizon.

"Verizon is still in the very early stages of its iPhone 4 offering to consumers," ChangeWave said, noting that the CDMA iPhone 4 just launched in February "It remains to be seen how well the Verizon network performs as the number of Verizon iPhone 4 owners ramps up and inevitably puts more pressure on their system."

Finally, the survey also asked customers about their satisfaction with the iPhone 4, and the results showed near-identical happiness on the part of both Verizon and AT&T customers. Verizon customers were slightly more satisfied, with 82 percent choosing "very satisfied," compared to 80 percent of AT&T iPhone 4 users.

And 16 percent of Verizon customers identified themselves as "somewhat satisfied," while 18 percent of AT&T customers were of the same opinion. That means that 98 percent of both AT&T and Verizon iPhone 4 users consider themselves "satisfied" at some level with their handset.

ChangeWave's polls have consistently found for years that iPhone customers are extremely satisfied with the device. Apple's numbers far exceed those of competitors including HTC, Motorola and Samsung.

I'm a new customer to ATT. The past month I've had 3 or 4 dropped calls. I was in a strong signal area and was not moving so I'm thinking it's either high traffic on a cell tower or some software or protocol glitch with their equipment.

I've also had a few cases where I called home and heard no ringing tone but the phone rang at home and my wife could hear me when she picked up. That sounds like either an iPhone problem or ATT.

I'm a new customer to ATT. The past month I've had 3 or 4 dropped calls. I was in a strong signal area and was not moving so I'm thinking it's either high traffic on a cell tower or some software or protocol glitch with their equipment.

I've also had a few cases where I called home and heard no ringing tone but the phone rang at home and my wife could hear me when she picked up. That sounds like either an iPhone problem or ATT.

I get them all the time, but much less frequently than when I got my 3G is 2008. The network and iPhone 4 itself are much better now, but it still happens.

No Verizon for me though because no simultaneous voice and data is a deal breaker.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

For me, the lack of good international roaming capability is also a complete deal breaker. Now if a future iPhone has a single model for all carriers, then I might consider it, when LTE is so ubiquitous that the simultaneous voice and data limitation isn't an issue.

Curious, is 4k an accurate sample size for the number of iphones in the US. And how was it generated. Changewave seems to be very mum about this but it doesn't call into question their numbers. If they are sampled randomly out of the whole US fine. But if they are knocking on doors, standing outside stores in one area than the results could be skewed because there's a great big Verizon tower down the block but no ATT towers within sight

I have been a Verizon customer for about 4 years and i was just curious, what is a dropped call?

It's when you call a phone on ATT, and that end disappears while you still show a connection. You can verify this by redialing them, and their ATT phone isn't online as you get dropped-into-their-voicemail-immediately.

Then they call you back 15-30mins later when they have network access again!

I have been a Verizon customer for about 4 years and i was just curious, what is a dropped call?

It's one of those things that happen to other people. Kinda like those colds and flus that PC's get.

I'm truly grateful Verizon finally got the iPhone. Had they not there would be no competition after AT&T gobbles up T-Mobile, and the successor to Ma Bell would once again become the monopoly. That would be terrific for shareholders but horrible for end users.

As far as the voice and data deal breaker, I'm sure Verizon will fix this. I agree it's a bother sometimes, but so is missing an important call.

For me, the lack of good international roaming capability is also a complete deal breaker. Now if a future iPhone has a single model for all carriers, then I might consider it, when LTE is so ubiquitous that the simultaneous voice and data limitation isn't an issue.

It's clear to me the CDMA iPhone 4 is an interim model put out there to plug a hole, hence the "CDMA-only" restriction. There are CDMA "world phones" made by others and hopefully Apple will join that party with the iPhone 5.

I don't really buy into this assertion that AT&T's dropped call issue is solely a problem of iPhones "hogging" data on their network. Verizon has sold a ton of smartphones even without the iPhone on its network before February and they don't seem to experience the same problems. I'd like to see some real estimates of how much data both companies are moving because I think AT&T is using the iPhone as a crutch and they are spending a lot of their money on advertising and lawyers/lobbyists on their monopolistic T-Mobile pursuit, instead of reinvesting in their network.

Data speed is nice when you're in an AT&T area that has it. Otherwise, Verizon's speed is very comparable, and their coverage is so ridiculously better, it's not even fair.

I really think that the key is how good is the AT&T service in the areas you frequent most? In my case, I get good AT&T coverage pretty much everywhere I go, so the data speed is just one more advantage for AT&T. I had Verizon before the iPhone came out, and it worked ok for me also.

From what I hear, if I was in San Francisco, or New York City, switching to Verizon would be a no brainer.

Bottom line, know the differences between the two phones (data speed, simultaneous voice+data, international coverage, voice and data coverage, etc), and make the decision based on that.

There is no right or wrong answer for everyone - it really depends on your circumstances.

My biggest dropped call problems now seem to be the proximity sensor at about 65% and poor signal for the remainder with ATT. Sadly, even in the same room (6' away) from my MicroCell, I often only have one bar and can't place a call.

I switched to the Verizon network from ATT. I have 0 dropped calls now, I can even make calls in my basement where I could not with ATT. The slower data isnt that big of a deal to me, its not that bad. Verizon has a tether option which is fantastic. I also have an iPad which I use for surfing the net, which is way better than an iPhone.

Come on guys wake up, a phone that drops calls all the time is not a phone at all. Its extremely irritating to the person on the other line. Especially when they too are using ATT and dropping calls on you.

It's clear to me the CDMA iPhone 4 is an interim model put out there to plug a hole, hence the "CDMA-only" restriction. There are CDMA "world phones" made by others and hopefully Apple will join that party with the iPhone 5.

I've never seen one. There are quasi-"world mode" phones that support both CDMA/EV-DO as GSM/UMTS bands but all the ones I've seen only support a single UMTS band. Not exactly "world mode" or feasible for Apple when their iPhone is penta-band with four bands in use.

Then consider the cost in space for extra chips as well as a less efficient system in regards to power usage. Up until CES the iPhone was the smallest modern smartphone, and might still be the smallest sold today. So how does that fact into Apple's plans?

The Gobi chip from Qualcomm is the only solution I know about that potentially supports all needed bands, but I haven't seen thi chip in a phone with all bands supported. I've seen parts of it supported, like in the Verizon iPhone and I've seen the "world mode" chip and bands for non-phones, but never at once, much less such a small phone.

My biggest dropped call problems now seem to be the proximity sensor at about 65% and poor signal for the remainder with ATT. Sadly, even in the same room (6' away) from my MicroCell, I often only have one bar and can't place a call.

6' from a MicroCell? There is something else going on you need to look into.

I don't really buy into this assertion that AT&T's dropped call issue is solely a problem of iPhones "hogging" data on their network. Verizon has sold a ton of smartphones even without the iPhone on its network before February and they don't seem to experience the same problems. I'd like to see some real estimates of how much data both companies are moving because I think AT&T is using the iPhone as a crutch and they are spending a lot of their money on advertising and lawyers/lobbyists on their monopolistic T-Mobile pursuit, instead of reinvesting in their network.

Some might consider purchasing T-Moblile "re-investing in their network"...

I suspect this is a case of AT&T's horrible coverage in NYC and San Fran weighing heavily on the math. I'd love to see AT&T's dropped call averages plotted on a map. I haven't had a single dropped call in the last six months, but I'm not in NYC or San Fran. I do know that the iPhone 4 has much better reception than the iPhone 3G/3Gs. I have friends here who have those and they occasionally get dropped calls. Just for the record, I have a bumper on my iPhone 4. I think the bumper makes the phone much more comfortable to hold and use as a phone. LOVE my iPhone 4.

I live in Spokane Wa, travel regularly to Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Phoenix. I rarely get a dropped call with my iPhone 4 on AT&T, maybe one every three of 4 months. Many times I figure it's the person I am talking to that his system has caused the dropped call.
My boss just got his Verizon iPhone last month. I was very curious as to the download speed. I loaded speedtest.net to his, ran the download test at the same time as mine. Results were: Verizon - 220Kbps - AT&T 5.2 mbps. He was so embarrassed by the test! I use this story for anyone here thinking about an iPhone 4 from Verizon. Why sacrifice that kind of download speed! Amazing!

I'm always puzzled by the % of people here who would help ATT make up excuses on network quality. It seems like they've a grudge on Verizon or something. Maybe those iDon't ads are still on their minds.

I've never seen one. There are quasi-"world mode" phones that support both CDMA/EV-DO as GSM/UMTS bands but all the ones I've seen only support a single UMTS band. Not exactly "world mode" or feasible for Apple when their iPhone is penta-band with four bands in use.

Then consider the cost in space for extra chips as well as a less efficient system in regards to power usage. Up until CES the iPhone was the smallest modern smartphone, and might still be the smallest sold today. So how does that fact into Apple's plans?

The Gobi chip from Qualcomm is the only solution I know about that potentially supports all needed bands, but I haven't seen thi chip in a phone with all bands supported. I've seen parts of it supported, like in the Verizon iPhone and I've seen the "world mode" chip and bands for non-phones, but never at once, much less such a small phone.

My Verizon Wireless Blackberry (which I don't like but don't get me started on that) can send and received telephone calls everywhere I've ever been in the world. It would be wonderful if Apple could provide Verizon Wireless an iPhone that could do the same. I'd switch in a heartbeat!

I'm always puzzled by the % of people here who would help ATT make up excuses on network quality. It seems like they've a grudge on Verizon or something. Maybe those iDon't ads are still on their minds.

And who are you to question the integrity of a post on this forum? Do you have proof that myself or anyone here is not typing the facts?
Who are you to question my integrity?
I believe that it just may be you that is a "hater".
BTW, I know several people here in Spokane with AT&T iPhones that lose signal in very unique geographical spots. I also know people with Verizon service that lose and cannot make/receive calls in the heart of this small downtown core.
Don't ever think VZ is end all, be all. They are far from it, as are AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
But for you to question mine and anyone else's integrity in their post is irresponsible and just plain stupid.

And who are you to question the integrity of a post on this forum? Do you have proof that myself or anyone here is not typing the facts?
Who are you to question my integrity?
I believe that it just may be you that is a "hater".
BTW, I know several people here in Spokane with AT&T iPhones that lose signal in very unique geographical spots. I also know people with Verizon service that lose and cannot make/receive calls in the heart of this small downtown core.
Don't ever think VZ is end all, be all. They are far from it, as are AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
But for you to question mine and anyone else's integrity in their post is irresponsible and just plain stupid.

Looks like I may be hitting the soft spot ....
This article is about a survey. The purpose of the survey is to find out some summary statistics, so that people would be able to get some relatively less subjective answer (it'd never be totally objective obviously), i.e. to avoid people (hint like you) who simply would quote his/her own experience or a few of his/her friends and make generalization out of a very small sample.

Personally, I've had iPhone 4 for almost a year and I think I had a dropped call once. It's been utterly fantastic for me. I could never make the drive home, or ride in the elevator or even walk down the hall without the call dropping, and now I never experience that with iPhone 4 (with or without the bumper case).

My Verizon Wireless Blackberry (which I don't like but don't get me started on that) can send and received telephone calls everywhere I've ever been in the world. It would be wonderful if Apple could provide Verizon Wireless an iPhone that could do the same. I'd switch in a heartbeat!

Sure, but it's a large phone and if you look at the UMTS bands there is likely only phone, that works for most of Europe. There will be the 4 GSM (aka: 2G) bands but that is hardly acceptable for a "world mode" status these days. You just aren't going to get any 3G in North America outside of the CDMA carrier it's liked to.

An how power efficient is that phone and how much does it cost for Apple to license CDMa chips that 85% of their consumer bae will never use? These things have to be considered. Probably the most obvious Apple won't go this route is they didn't with the iPad 2 with has the room for it. Yet they felt 6 additional SKUs for a total of 18 was a better option.

Looks like I may be hitting the soft spot ....
This article is about a survey. The purpose of the survey is to find out some summary statistics, so that people would be able to get some relatively less subjective answer (it'd never be totally objective obviously), i.e. to avoid people (hint like you) who simply would quote his/her own experience or a few of his/her friends and make generalization out of a very small sample.

Uh, I know what the article is about. It's your post that I took offense to. You only question the integrity of contributors post - "I'm always puzzled by the % of people here who would help ATT make up excuses..."
I have soft spots... attacks on people without proof, like yours is one of them. You are not making comments on the article. You are making comments on posts after the article.
From your post, I only see that you are a "hater". No excuses.

I broke down finally and bought a iPhone. I was going to wait for the 5 to come out but I don't want to wait for what may be the 1st quarter of 2012. I use Verizon. ATT coverage is horrible where I live I cannot get any coverage in my home. I love it so far. My wife has a RIM and daughter has a Droid but the Apple works better for me for what I use it for.